Mission & History

At the time of MnSEIA's formation, Minnesota had just 330 solar installations producing 1.5 megawatts of electricity.

• A 1.5% solar energy standard is created in MN after four years of hard work with labor & environmental partners. This guarantees at least 450 megawatts of solar in MN by 2020.
• MnSEIA also passed groundbreaking, bipartisan Community Solar Garden legislation that put Minnesota on track to become the nation’s leader.
• The Value of Solar (VOS) is established. MnSEIA played an instrumental role in the VOS's creation which is a first-of-its-kind rate designed to be equivalent to the direct benefit that a solar facility provides.

In seven years, Minnesota solar grew from a $150 million industry to a $1 billion market with over 300 megawatts of solar.

• Minnesota's solar market expanded to 500 megawatts
• Solar jobs grew 48% compared to 2016 levels
• Clean energy jobs grew 4x faster than overall job growth in 2017
• MnSEIA grew to 100 member companies

• Renewable energy is now cheaper than both coal and natural gas in Minnesota, even without subsidies. This is a hallmark of the efforts and dedication of our industry members, partners, and stakeholders. 
• MnSEIA, alongside our partners, pushed for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) to re-evaluate the Distributed Generation (DG) tariff framework.
• MnSEIA welcomed a new Executive Director, David Shaffer.

• Minnesota officially reached 1 gigawatt of installed solar. 250 megawatts of Community Solar Gardens are also installed this year, the most ever in Minnesota’s history.
• Xcel Energy announced plans to install 3 gigawatts of solar in MN by 2030, marking a turning point where utilities are using solar to decrease their costs.
• MnSEIA became an official state affiliate of the national SEIA.
• MnSEIA had a successful year at the Capitol passing:
  • Brightfields study bill that appropriated $300,000 to fund a study and forge a pathway for solar on closed landfills.
  • Extension and expansion of the popular Solar*Rewards program.
  • Energy storage legislation to fund a study, integrated resource planning, and multi-million dollar pilot projects.

• Solar proved its resiliency and benefits to the Minnesota economy by continuing to grow despite COVID-19 pandemic.
• MnSEIA passed an extension to the Solar*Rewards program, one of the only two energy bills to pass during the 2020 legislative session.
• Our state utilities announced plans to expedite over 500 MW worth of utility-scale projects to get Minnesotans back to work.
• The federal Investment Tax Credit is extended until 2022.
• MnSEIA added new full-time staff members and an office. We also endorsed political candidates for the first time ever and hosted our first virtual Gateway to Solar conference.

• 340 MWs of solar are added in the state in 2021, more than double the amount in 2019 or 2020.
• MnSEIA expanded its mission to include energy storage to drive more storage policies and attract more storage companies to MN.
• MnSEIA celebrated the passage of over $31M of solar incentive programs in the 2021 Legislative Session, including:
  • Brightfields bill that created a fund for Solar on Closed Landfills to open up a new market opportunity.
  • After four years of hard work, MnSEIA and our partners successfully passed legislation to create a Solar for Schools program for districts across Minnesota.
  • Extension of the Solar*Rewards program.
• MnSEIA also welcomed a new Executive Director, Logan O'Grady, to lead the association.

• The industry supported the efforts of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to protect MN solar customers and crack down on fraudulent solar sales by 'bad actors.'
• MnSEIA set and reached a DEI goal for our Board of Directors, where half our Board are from underrepresented groups in the industry.
• The association grew to over 140 member companies with the broadest industry representation yet.
• MnSEIA hosted its largest Gateway to Solar conference with over 500 attendees.

1. Create, promote and protect solar-friendly policies around residential, utility-scale, commercial and industrial solar, and energy storage.
2. Push back against harmful utility practices, such as slow interconnection processes, unnecessary costs and poor data disclosure.
3. Expand the solar PV demand credit for commercial and industrial customers and add storage as a qualifying technology.
4. Extend incentives for community solar garden residential subscribers, increase customer access, and enlarge project size.
5. Encourage and support utility-scale projects as they are proposed.
6. Facilitate successful development of Minnesota's goal to achieve 6+ Gigawatts of solar by 2030.

More on our policy EFFORTS